Come Again?
by Kellie
Summary: I have a second chapter up! Kel loves Neal and Cleon loves Kel. What will happen??? R/R!!
1. Default Chapter

Author's note-I'm expecting many flames for this. It's just meant to be a little funny short story. There will be no sequel but I desperately want reviews. R/R  
  
Disclaimer- no characters belong to me. They belong to that goddess Tamora Pierce. Perhaps you've heard of her? I own this plot that you MUST tell me if you like!  
  
  
  
Neal, Roald, Cleon, Faleron, Esmond, and Seaver sat at the library table thinking through the conversation they just had.  
'Everyone knew I liked Kel' Cleon thought. 'But I never knew that everyone else liked her too.'  
'What chance do I have of getting Kel now?' Neal thought lost in his thoughts. ' Roald is the crown prince. He's handsome and smart. He's everything Kel could ever want. Cleon is funny, witty and charming. He's always flatters her with those silly names. Faleron is the most attractive of us all. Not only that but he's really smart. Seaver is, well…Seaver! Esmond was the first to acknowledge her talent. He's been really nice to her lately. I'm…well…Oh whom I kidding? I'm nothing. Besides, I'm too old for her. What kind of name is Nealan anyway?'   
Seaver interrupted Neal's thoughts by breaking the silence. "Kel really is incredible. She managed to make all of us fall in love with her."  
"We have to make her choose" Esmond said stubbornly.  
"We can't just throw this in her face and make her choose." Roald protested.  
"We do need to tell her though." Cleon said thoughtfully.  
Neal was very quiet throughout all of this.  
"What do you think Neal? Faleron asked. "After all, you are her best friend. You should know what's best."  
"Yeah! What do you think Neal?"   
Neal thought on this for a while  
"We do need to tell her." He finally said. "But! We can't expect her to choose right away. She probably will choose one of you, right? So the rest of us will walk away, good sports."   
They were all quiet at this.  
"I notice you said 'one of you' and 'the rest of us' Roald said. " you don't think she'll choose you, Neal?"   
"I don't know. Not even I know how she'll even react let alone if she'll choose me. I doubt it though."  
"We all have different things to offer but how can you say that?" Faleron said.  
"Yeah! If anyone she'll choose you." Cleon agreed. "You are her best friend. She trusts you."  
"I guess we'll see when she chooses." Seaver said.  
They all looked at each other in a new light. As competition.  
"Let's all promise to stay friends no matter what." Esmond broke the long silence. "We can't let this come between us."  
"Yeah"  
"Of course"  
"Absolutely"  
"We have to stick together."  
They all agreed.  
  
~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~`~~  
  
Many heads turned to see the large group of squires that walked down the hall. Some looked determined. Others nervous. Each one of them dying for Kel to choose them.  
They searched for her till finding her in the kitchen gardens talking to Merric. She had a flower in her hair.  
"Kel?" Roald inquired, "Can we talk to you?"  
"Sounds serious. What's up?" Kel said smiling.  
Everyone looked at each other.  
"You tell her."  
"No!"  
"No, Neal should tell her."  
"Yeah!"  
"Tell her Neal!"   
Okay Okay, I'll tell her."  
  
"Guys, Guys! Tell me what Neal?" Kel said looking quite annoyed.  
Esmond shoved Neal forward.  
"Well, the thing is…" he began. "You see…"  
"Just tell me!" Kel almost yelled. "Whatever it is it can't be that big a deal."  
Neal sighed "the thing is Kel, I… I love you."  
Roald hit Neal on the back of the head as Kel's mouth fell open.  
"OW! Okay Okay! We all like you, Kel."  
Kel looked at all of them shocked. Merric pushed her mouth closed. Kel just stared at hem blankly.  
Suddenly she broke out in laughter.  
"Ha ha, that's funny! Good one guys. Boy, you really had me going."  
Merric joined in on he laughter. I died quickly though when they saw the serious faces on their friend's faces.  
"Oh great mother you're serious!"  
They all nodded.  
Kel blushed, as did Merric.  
"Hey, what's going on Merric? Why are you blushing?" Roald asked.  
This just made Merric a deeper shade of red.  
They all looked at Kel curiously.  
"Um…there's a secret I've been keeping from all of you." Kel said. "I meant to tell you, really I did!"  
"What is it already?!" Cleon said.  
"Merric and I have been going out for about a year now." She said blushing a deep crimson.  
"MERRIC!"  
They all yelled in unison. They turned to see Merric who was by now a vivid shade of red.  
  
``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``~``  
  
Neal sat straight up in bed. His sheets were sweat soaked. Sweat ran down his face. He screamed,   
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  



	2. Wha?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Author's note- Yay! The sequel!! It took me forever to get this on paper and even longer to get it all typed up. This fic is like the forbidden zone of Tammy Pierce writing. Well I don't want to give too much away. Let's just say....Neal AND Cleon fans won't like me. Uh oh...I've said too much.

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the TP characters. La di da di da. Get it? Got it? Good.

p.s.- they are pages

Cleon looked at Kel from across the table at study group.  
::Mithros, she's beautiful.::  
::So why don't you tell her so?:: said a voice in his head.  
::Because she loves Neal.::  
::How do you know?:: persisted the voice.  
::The way she looks at him. How no one can realize how much she likes him I'll never know. I also know that she'll never have those feelings for me.:: He sighed to himself.  
"Cleon, how do you do this math problem?" his thoughts were interrupted by Neal who sat directly in front of him and next to Kel.  
"How should I know? Ask Kel, she's the math mage."  
"Oh OK." Neal smiled at Cleon and turned to Kel.  
Cleon rolled his eyes. ::I think they knocked out one too many of his brain cells in the practice courts.:: he thought and got back to his work.

"Kel, how do you do this math problem?" Kel's heart fluttered at the sound of Neal's husky voice. She gleefully moved her chair a little closer to Neal's. She could feel heat rising in her cheeks as the space between her body and his grew smaller. Kel looked up to see Cleon glaring at Neal with...jealousy?!  
She put it off to deal with later. "Well, it's like this Neal." She began to explain when a shadow fell across her book. She looked up into Joren's ice cold eyes. Vincent and Garvey were just behind him. Everyone fell silent to glare at the trio suspiciously. Joren was standing in the empty spot at the table just in front of Kel.  
::What's he up to?:: Kel thought suspiciously.  
Joren placed his hands on the table and leaned forward to smirk in Kel's face.  
"Hey Kel, I just wanted to let you know," his voice audible only to the few seated around Kel including Neal, Cleon, and Roald. "That the only reason these cogs are your friends is because the think you're attractive. All they really want is to bed you. Although i don't know why."   
Neal and Cleon were instantly out of their chairs. Kel grabbed Neal's hand trying to pull him back into his seat. She threw Cleon a look. He looked right back at her defiantly and then gave Joren a menacing look.  
"Joren seems to want to get hurt. I'll gladly help him out with it." Joren now thought twice about fighting the very large Cleon.  
Neal had made his way around the table. He pulled back his arm. his hand clenched in a fist. Joren's face held a flash of fear. Thankfully, Roald caught Neal's arm before he could punch Joren's lights out.  
Joren smirked at Neal and stalked out of the library, his cronies following.  
Kel scowled at Neal and Cleon. "Kel!" Neal exclaimed. "You can't get mad at us for wanting to fight. He was talking about us too!"  
"I've always told you I can fight my own battles! You don't have to fight for me!" she yelled and stalked out of the library.

Kel was in her room preparing for bed when she heard a knock on her door. She groaned and pulled up the breeches she was in the middle of taking off. Once she was decent she went to the door. Neal and Cleon stood there, frowns on their faces, not looking the least bit guilty.  
"Kel you had no right to yell at us!" Neal burst out as he walked into the room. Cleon followed leaving the door open only a hands width.  
"You don't have to protect me." Kel said as Neal paced the room. Cleon stood in front of the door. "If you always protect me everyone will think I can't fight for myself! They'll think I'm not as good as the rest of you. Cleon, you know what I'm talking about right?" She turned to Cleon.  
Cleon looked at Kel in surprise. "Kel, I agree with Neal on this one. Joren was acting like a jerk and we couldn't just stand there and let him say those things.  
Kel's face squinted up in fury. "You don't have to do anything just because you're in love with me!"  
Cleon turned pale, a look of shock on his face. Neal stopped his pacing. Kel's face changed from one of anger to one of regret.  
"Cleon, I..." she began to apologize.  
"That's right!" Cleon interrupted. "I shouldn't do anything because you're too in love with Neal to notice!"  
Kel gasped. She looked at Neal who was starring blankly at the two of them.  
He looked from Cleon to Kel and back again in disbelief. Kel plopped down on her bed, her head in her hands shaking to and fro. She was muttering "Oh no. Oh no."  
"Y...You love me?" He was bright red.  
"Oh here we go!" Cleon yelled. "Neal is in love with you and you're in love with him. Now you two can both go off and live happily..."  
"I'm not in love with Kel." Neal interrupted Cleon. Kel looked up from her hands. Cleon turned to stare at Neal. Neal walked up to Cleon and took one of Cleon's large hands in two of his. "I'm in love with you."  
Cleon and Kel's mouth fell open. Cleon pulled his hand away. They all realized what that meant. It was the forbidden love triangle. Cleon loved Kel, Kel loved Neal, and Neal loved Cleon?! All were silent for a long time. They traded looks. Some of embarrassment. Some of hope.  
"Neal?" Cleon said breaking the silence. "I never thought you would feel that way." Kel looked at Cleon in horror. "I'd never really thought about it till now, and....I think I could really love you too."  
Kel shrank away from them, her face stark white. Cleon smiled at Neal who smiled right back. Cleon reached his hand back out to Neal. He took it and squeezed it gently. Smiles graced their lips as Kel was forgotten.  
To Kel's utter horror, they closed their eyes and leaned in to kiss. Neal ran his fingers through Cleon's hair. She saw their fingers intertwine. She saw the kiss grow more and more passionate. She saw Cleon pull Neal in a tight embrace closing all remaining space between them.

Kel thumped on the ground, a tangled mess of sheets. She looked to her side to see Jump sprawled on the floor. She put her hand to her head as the dream came flooding back to her. She was shivering as she climbed back in bed. ::It was only a nightmare.:: She thought. ::A very real and disturbing nightmare.::

Well?! Yes I know, that was very disturbing but I guess Neal and Cleon just started annoying the hell out of me. They deserve each other. I guess I sort of established a nightmare series. Maybe I could write on for Lord Wydolyn. Or I could get out of Protector of the small and do some characters from the other TP books. I don't have any more ideas though. I'm really proud of this fic and think its worthy of going under the Come Again title. ::sighs:: R/R!!!! I live off of reviews!!!!! Tell me if it was funny or too disturbing to be funny. I don't care just use that little box down there!!!!!


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